Peter Sagan (Cannondale) won the 201-kilometer opening stage of the VDK-Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde - against his will, as it turned out afterwards. The Slovak actually wanted to let his teammate Oscar Gatto go first, but miscalculated.
Sagan brought about the preliminary decision on the penultimate climb. At the Eikenmolen he accelerated, launching alongside Gatto the Omega Pharma-QuickStep duo Gert Steegmans and Niki Tepstra.
With the attack, Sagan also equalized the group around Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), who had been at the front of the race up to that point. Together with this, the Cannondale duo finally prepared their double success, while Terpstra and his teammates concentrated on good positions in the overall standings.
Result
1. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) 4:29:39
2. Oscar Gatto (Cannondale) 0:00:00
3. Kenneth Van Bilsen (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) 0:00:00
4. Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) 0:00:00
5. Laurens De Vreese (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) 0:00:00
Total
1. Peter Sagan (SVK Cannondale) 4:29:29
2. Oscar Gatto (Ita Cannondale) 0:00:04
3. Kenneth Van Bilsen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) 0:00:06
4. Gert Steegman's (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step) 0:00:07
5. Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert) 0:00:10